Adam Wolf of Wayne and Layne, and Twin Cities Maker Member will be hosting a class on how to solder one of his popular kits the blinky POV.

If you’ve never soldered before, this is the class for you! This course teaches through-hole (90% of electronic kits) soldering and is recommended for the beginner. This is a hands-on class where the students learn techniques to help them solder through-hole components. Soldering can be daunting for the first solder joint, then the 2nd solder joint is not so bad, and by the time you’ve assembled the blinky grid, you will be quite confident and proficient in basic soldering skills.

Classes take place at The Hack Factory. We provide all the tools, irons, solder, parts, and seats for up to 8 students.

There is a minimum age requirement of 8 years old, but other than that, anyone is encouraged to sign up. We teach people all the time with no previous soldering experience! You do not need to be a member of Twin Cities Maker to attend.

The class is expected to take around 1.5 hour to complete, there is a buffer built in in case we go a bit longer.

Prerequisites: None! Just bring yourself. The class price includes the cost of the blinky POV kit.

What to bring: TC Maker will provide all the tools, irons and solder.

Proceeds above will go to help keep TC Maker, support the space.

Time and Place: Tuesday Feb 7th 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the Hack Factory

Cost: $16 (This is a great deal, the retail price is also $16, but with out the hack factory to solder at, and no Adam to be taught by.)

A collection of some of the happenings of the Open Hack at 1/25/12 @ the Hack Factory in Minneapolis. Every Wednesday is open to the public, 7 – ~11pm. Bring project to show, work on your projects, talk about robots or moon shovels…

After college Luke Maguire Armstrong joyfully committed ﬁnancial suicide by taking out a last minute student loan so he could hitchhike from Chile to Alaska. Fodder from these shenanigans, which include narrowly escaping muggers in Peru and visiting a FARC run cocaine factory in Colombia, are part of the inspiration inspirations for his award winning ﬁction, non-ﬁction and poetry.

For the last four years he has been hiding from the Student Loan Debt Monsters in Guatemala where he directs the humanitarian development organization Nuestros Ahijados. Through schools, clinics, a homeless shelter, a malnourished infant center, and other sustainable programs, this project works to “break the bitter chains of
poverty.” These efforts have been featured in The Hufﬁngton Post and ABC News 20/20 amongst others.

December 2011 is Luke’s multi-city Rabble Rousing Tour to recite poetry from his book iPoems for the Dolphins to Click Home About, sing songs (some about potatoes and chicken patties), promote social justice and spread awareness about issues ranging from human trafﬁcking, infant malnutrition, illiteracy and the troubling lack of education opportunities for parrots and dogs.

Welcome to the 4 new members that signed up on Wednesday! Our total right now is at 91, we update the bar which is currently at 81 at the start of each month so, there is a really good chance next month we will exceed our goal which will be really great. Thanks to all of our new and continuing members, you are TC Maker!

Also our starving hacker fund has been depleted so if you are so inclined to donate some money to help out fellow members that have fallen on tough times you can do so by talking with Brandon our treasurer@tcmaker.org.

The big Mill-er TIG is up and running. And talk about power, this thing has juice to spare. That being said, we are having an orientation class to familiarize members with this machine. The class is mandatory for anyone using the machine. We need to be SURE everyone has been given the proper startup and shutdown procedures to keep from damaging the machine. Also for simplicity sake, we want everyone to use the same collet/tungsten electrode kit rated for this welder, so you will be getting your own kit as part of the orientation materials (dont worry we get a good discount on bulk orders so its cheaper than getting it yourself). Also this unit uses quite a bit of argon. We want to make sure we can keep this thing in gas, so we trying to get a shop sized tank. The rest of the orientation cost goes right back into feeding this beast a steady diet of argon.

This will not be an introduction to welding class. You will need to have had a mig or gas welding class before signing up and be a member in good standing of the Hack Factory. You can also test out of the prerequisite classes by finding either Dave or I and showing off your wicked welding skills.

Videoman testing the big TIG

You can also register in person with Karin (class/events coordinator) up til nov 25th (we need a week to order kits)

550 cord (aka paracord) is strong, relatively inexpensive and versatile. Our “101” course will teach you to make useful, decorative and interesting things using this material. No prior experience necessary. We’ll use a few basic (and surprisingly simple) knots to tie a variety of bracelets, belts, tool lanyards, handle wraps, key fobs and holsters.

The course will cover the basics of working with cord, design and measurement considerations and pro tips of executing and finishing your projects. Practical “lifehacker” applications for rope and cord and a few extra knots that everyone should know will also be shared. Don’t worry if you can’t even tie your shoes (we’ll teach you a superior knot for that too).

This course is very hands-on. All materials and tools will be provided. We’ll complete several projects in class and students will go home with extra cord and a basic tool kit to continue their exploration of cordcraft.

Jeff “Rigger” Berg will be the instructor. Jeff’s been fooling around with rope for over a decade. His resumé includes a stint as a yacht rigger.

This Thursday, Oct 20, 2011 7:00 – 11:00 PM

Come out to the hack factory to enjoy an evening of tabletop gaming. Please bring a game, a snack to share and a couple dollars if you would like pizza. Event itself is free and open to all ages. Bring friends and family and enjoy some great social time.

Twin Cities Maker Member and founder of Crazy But Able, John Wilson will be hosting a building of his new kit the Stella Amp. There are a limited number of seats available for the class so sign up early. Handmade Music will be providing the soldering stations and solder, you can bring your own irons if you would like as well.

No prior knowledge of soldering is needed there will be some people to help you along the way if this is your first time around the iron.

Due to the soldering irons this class is limited to persons of 8 years of age or older.

Modeled after SparkFun’s Soldering class, TC Maker is offering a soldering class. The kit and the price is all the same but the location is a not Denver, it’s Minneapolis.

Description: If you’ve never soldered before, this is the class for you! This course teaches through-hole (90% of electronic kits) soldering and is recommended for the beginner. This is a hands-on class where the students learn techniques to help them solder through-hole components. Soldering can be daunting for the first solder joint, then the 2nd solder joint is not so bad, and by the time you’ve assembled the Simon game, you will be quite confident and proficient in basic soldering skills.

Classes take place at The Hack Factory. We provide all the tools, irons, solder, parts, and seats for 8 students. You’ll be soldering the Simon PTH Kit. By the end of the night, you will have a functioning game to take home and show off to your friends (we get funny looks all the time).

There is a minimum age requirement of 8 years old, but other than that, anyone is encouraged to sign up. We teach people all the time with no previous soldering experience!

The class is expected to take around 1 hour to complete, there is a buffer built in in case we go a bit longer.

Prerequisites: None! Just bring you. The class price includes the cost of the Simon Kit. The class is open to the public and to members.

What to bring: TC Maker will provide all the tools, irons and solder.

Proceeds above will go to help keep TC Maker electronics area, we want to get some decent components for the place. We will also be accepting other donations, including components if you have any around. If you are so inclined please do donate.

Time and Place: Friday Aug 26th 7:00pm to 10:00pm at the Hack Factory.

Who is Teaching: Paul Sobczak, Electrical Engineer, and other TC Maker members.

Hey got any stuff that you’d like to put in a garage sale, but dont want to bother with actually having a garage sale?

Well, your in luck! we will take care of that for you.

First Annual TC MAKERS Garage Sale at the Hack Factory

We need to raise some funds for a couple of infrastructure projects that benefit all the members.
Hows this sound?

– shop-wide dust collection
– refurbished bathrooms and member locker space
– air-conditioning more of the shop
– air power for the entire space

Now that we have your attention. we need all that stuff sitting in your garage and basement that you could donate to a fundraiser garage sale for the Hack Factory “Make the Hack Factory Nicer For All” Fund.

Twin Cities Maker operates an open house every Wednesday from 7:00pm till late, and it’s open to the public! If you are interested in getting to know what TCMaker is about, or just want something to do on a Wednesday night stop by and say hello. Bring a project if you’re working one, or a problem if you need something fixed, we might be able to help.

Twin Cities Maker will have a table today at Bryant Lake Bowl for the Uptown Pride Block Party, which starts at 6 PM. Visit with some of our group members to talk shop and find out what TC Maker is all about!

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Twin Cities Maker (TC Maker) is a community group based in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Our mission is to make, share, and learn.

We have opened a maker space/hackerspace for members to build projects using various media and technologies, from wood and metal working to electronics to fabrics and beyond. We call our space the Hack Factory.